Oh My Stars
by laugh32
Summary: She cringes, and Sam ignores the way his stomach tightens at how cute it is. Because it's not cute. She's Tommy's daughter and she's eight years his junior. And she is apparently into vandalism.


**Once upon a time, I (Amber) was really depressed because season 4 was a trainwreck and, after watching Stick It for the 1000th times, started writing this little diddy. It turned into this. Kind of weird and random, but hopeful you guys enjoy! :) **

* * *

The first time Sam meets Andy, its nothing major-merely a speeding ticket. She is seventeen and Sams twenty-five, recently cut loose but still a rookie. He had only been on the force a year, but he recognizes her name as soon as he pulls up her license. _**McNally**_. He knows right away that this is the daughter of Shaw's former training officer. And he knows right away that he can't do anything, out of nothing but respect for the officer. He kneels down at Andy's window and makes eye contact with her. She doesn't look sorry, just bored.

"McNally, eh?" he questions.

She leans in toward him, squinting at his name badge. "Swarek, eh?" she mocks. She smirks, and he can't help but roll his eyes. Typical seventeen year old. You'd think the daughter of a cop would have more respect for the law.

"Do you know why I pulled you over today?" he asks.

She scrunches her face up and lets out a long "hmmm." She shrugs. "I'm going to assume I broke the law. Maybe a little speeding?" she asks sarcastically.

"I'm gonna let you go on this, kid. But slow down, alright?" he says. She raises her eyebrows, nods slowly, and he feels like she's mocking him but he just clears his throat and stands up.

"Thanks Officer," she says flippantly. She winks at him and then drives off, and he laughs to himself because he sees a lot of himself in her at that

* * *

"So, guess who I pulled over for speeding today?" Sam says later at the bar, and Oliver stares at him, seemingly in no mood to play any guessing games. "Andy McNally."

Oliver's eyebrows shoot heavenward and Sam wonders if his friend is going to have a coronary right there. "Tommy's daughter? You ticketed Tommy's daughter?"

Sam rolls his eyes. "Calm down, drama queen, I let her off with a warning, although she's kind of bratty so I shouldn't have been so easy on her."

Oliver chuckles. "I've met her a couple of times. She's something else. Tommy tries his hardest with her but he says she's pretty distant."

"Kids," Sam says with a grunt.

"Give the kid a break," Jerry pops in, and Sam wonders how he always does that. How he always jumps into a conversation without anyone knowing he was even listening.

Sam just nods. "I did."

* * *

The second time Sam meets Andy, she's holding a bottle of spray paint, caught in the act with two other guys. They all start sprinting, and Andy's really fast, it's possible that she would've gotten away if it weren't for the crack in the sidewalk that causes her to stumble.

"We meet again," he says and she groans, but a small smile is playing on her lips and Sam sighs.

"Listen McNally," he says, pulling her to her feet by her arm. She mumbles something about police brutality that he completely ignores. "I'm trying to be easy on you because your father is a great man and a great cop. You're making that a little hard, ya know?"

She cocks her head to the side and smiles. "Ah, Swarek. You're the one that pulled me over a year ago," she says, recognition setting in. She sighs. "Look, I'm sorry, it will totally not happen ever again," she said.

"Right," Sam says with an eyeroll. She frowns, and he notices that under the bravado, she looks a little concerned. It takes him a minute, but when it clicks, a smirk replaces the frown on his face. "You're eighteen now, aren't ya?" he asks.

She cringes, and Sam ignores the way his stomach tightens at how cute it is. Because it's not cute. She's Tommy's daughter and she's eight years his junior. And she is apparently into vandalism.

"Yes," she says quietly, her eyes squeezed shut. He laughs a genuine laugh, honestly amused by the situation she's found herself in.

"McNally," he says, annoyance in his voice. "I can't just look the other way every time you're involved out of respect for your dad. In fact, I'm sure he wouldn't want me to."

She shifts her weight from foot to foot and lets out a low groan. "Okay, man, first of all, the speeding thing wasn't that big of a deal, it's not like you were really risking the safety of others by letting me go with a warning. And like, that building over there is such a joke, we were honestly just trying to make it, ya know, less of a hellhole," she says.

"That building is your high school," he says, rolling his eyes.

"Well, actually, I graduated last week so it's not really my high school anymore," she says, the words coming out rushed, as if that helps her case at all.

"Right," he deadpans.

She sighs, raising her left arm to rub the back of her neck. He can see how stressed she is underneath everything else and he lets out a long groan and closes his eyes.

"Get out of my sight, McNally," he says and he can hear her let out a low breath but she doesn't move. "Listen, go before I open my eyes and change my mind," he scolds and she lets out a tiny laugh.

"Thanks, Officer," she says, and it reminds him of the last time he caught her breaking the law, except this time her voice is laced with gratefulness. He hears her start to run off and opens his eyes. He watches, a smirk appearing on his face, as she runs off into the night, toward where he knows her house is.

* * *

The next time Sam runs into Andy, it's at the station and he thanks God it's not because she's under arrest or anything. He doesn't know why he's so invested in this girl. Why should he care if she's under arrest, he hardly knows her. The last time he saw her was over a year ago, running away from him.

"McNally," he says, and she makes this face at him, like they're both twelve and she just gave him a wedgie or something. He can't help but laugh. She brings two fingers to her hairline and salutes him sarcastically before greeting easily, "Swarek."

Sam smirks, sending a nod in her general direction and watches as she walks past him and runs up the steps to the D's offices. His eyes follow her as she barges into the office and stands before her dad. She's talking animatedly, arms flinging everywhere, but she doesn't look angry. She looks revved up though, thats for sure.

Tommy just watches his daughter as she paces the office and Sam smiles, because even though he can't hear her, he's charmed by her.

Tommy finally starts talking and Andy listens, and when he's done, she looks more disappointed than anything, but she just nods and plants a kiss on her father's cheek before turning on her heels and heading out. This time as she walks past Sam, she shrugs, her mood clearly changed. "Later," she drawls out carelessly and sends him a wink before walking out of the station.

Tommy comes out of the office and Sam hears Oliver ask, "What was that about?"

Tommy laughs, "I don't know, the girls all wound up over something with college, I don't know," he shrugs.

Sam frowns but can't help the affection that rises in his chest, which he quickly tries to push away and focuses on his paperwork.

* * *

Sam doesn't see Andy for awhile after that, and he wonders about her from time to time. If she's got her life together, done with the acts of rebellion, and he honestly hopes she is because her father is falling apart.

Tommy fell off the wagon this year, and its been tough on everyone at 15, to watch an amazing cop crumble in front of them. He's done so much good, and to have all that forgotten because he's at a bad point now? It doesn't seem fair.

He wonders about her more often than he'd like to.

He asks Shaw if he's seen her, and Oliver just shrugs, but he's generally pretty guarded when it comes to the subject of Tommy, so.

It isn't until he's working an overnight shift, beyond exhausted, that he sees her again. He responds to a call that came from a bar downtown, and he's partnered with Oliver. They walk in and immediately the manager of the bar comes out, annoyed as can be.

"Listen here, this girl had to be drunk before she got here, or at least on her way, because we've only served her one beer since she got here, and, well, no one can really tell me what happened other than that an altercation broke out," the lady rambles nervously, and Sam just nods, pushing his way through the crowd of people to see two girls going at it.

Sam's eyes widen when he sees Andy in the fight, and he all but runs over to pull her off the blonde girl, who Oliver grabs a hold of. Sam's behind Andy, and he's got both her hands pulled behind her, and as he cuffs her she lets out a loud laugh and says, "Let me guess, it's you." She turns around and meets his eyes, nodding. "Of course it is," she mumbles and he rolls his eyes, pulling her out of the bar while Oliver takes the other girls statement.

"McNally, what are you doing?" he all but screams at her.

"The cuffs, really?" she questions, "that's a little much, dontchya think Swarek?" she says, her words slurring together.

"No," he responds quickly. "What happened in there?" he asks and she groans.

"Nothing, okay," she shouts defensively, and something in Sam wants to pull her into a hug, but he can't do that. "Listen, the girl is a bitch. I've hated her since eighth grade and she lives next door to me, so lets all just be glad that I've had the restraint to stay away from her for this long," she rambles on and Sam raises an eyebrow. "She said something rude so, I mean, I called her a slut, which, okay, not my best moment and I definitely could've come up with a better insult if I weren't so wasted, but like, it wasn't a big deal. The next thing I know, the bitch slaps me," she says and Sam nods slowly. "So, I shoved her away from me before I could do something stupid, but when I turn around, she like, pushes me, so hard that I fall to the ground, and so I punched her and she lunged at me but you guys stopped it, so. And so **technically **that's not assault and battery, okay, thats _reasonable defense _so like you can't really arrest me," she says.

Sam laughs, because of course, Andy is the daughter of a cop, she's going to know her rights. He sighs and uncuffs her but wraps his hand around her arm. "Come with me. You may think you're off scott free but I need to take witness statements to make sure that's what really happened."

She looks at him, feigning shock. "You don't trust _me?_" she questions but sits down on a barstool and keeps quiet.

At the end of the night, Andy is sitting on a park bench outside of the bar and it's kind of cool outside, and Sam wonders if she needs a jacket, but she doesn't seem cold. Her head is thrown back, tilted toward the sky, and her eyes are closed and the moonlight hits her face just right and...

"Ready to go?" Shaw asks, coming out from behind him. This grabs Andy's attention. She whips her head forward and opens her eyes. "Need a ride home, kid?" Andy scrunches her face up and Oliver chuckles. "I'm sorry, I know I said I'd stop calling you kid a couple months ago."

"Yeah, yeah," she mutters and stands up, and Oliver grins like a dork before heading toward the squad car. Sam watches as Andy stands up and grabs her purse, rolls her neck and sighs. She meets Sam's eyes for a second, and she just looks **so exhausted** and he smiles at her. She just shrugs and slides into the back of the squad car.

When they pull up to her house, she lets out a low groan. "Can you actually take me a few streets over? I'm going to crash at a friends house tonight."

Oliver raises an eyebrow but listens as she tells him the address. When they arrive at the house, she thanks Oliver and gets out. Sam clears his throat and steps out of the vehicle as well. Andy shoots him a weird look and shuts the door, shoving her hands in her back pockets and slowly making her way toward the front door.

"Andy," he says quietly, knowing full well that Oliver is probably watching, confused and curious. "You okay?"

She clears her throat, crosses her arms over her chest. "Tired," she says, and he knows she means more than just **physically tired**. Her eyes are watery, and Sam knows that while she's on her way to sobering up, she is nowhere near sober. And he knows that under any other circumstance, she'd never allow herself to cry in front of him.

"That girl, she lives next door. So she knows what my life has become, and she said something about it. I kind of lost it," she admits, shrugging. She puts her hands over face, like she can't even look at him, and he frowns.

"What your life has become?"

She scoffs, "Like you don't already know," she says, her voice shaky, and he nods. Of course he knows. Her father. "I guess the bright side is you don't have to worry about looking the other way when I do something stupid out of **respect **for my father, the great cop," she says.

Sam takes a step toward her, places a hand on her shoulder, tilts his head a little so he can make eye contact with her. "Andy. Your father was an amazing cop, and I not only respect him, but I respect you greatly," he tells her and she looks like she wants to smile.

Instead, she nods slowly and sniffles quietly. "Yeah," she mutters quietly.

She looks to the side for a moment and Sam swears he has no control over his body anymore because he doesn't even realize it when he extends his arm and gently runs a few fingers along her jawline. She winces in pain, but doesn't move away from his touch. She meets his eyes and Sam finds himself wishing he could read her mind.

He sends her a small smile. "Make sure you ice that tonight McNally." He lets his fingers linger for a small moment before bringing his hand back down.

She finally allows herself to smile. It's small, but Sam can tell its sincere. (And the feeling he gets in the pit of his stomach, knowing that he got her to genuinely smile, well, it is overwhelming).

"I should go," she says and he nods. "Thanks," she says under her breath and quickly turns around, walking straight into the home as if it were her own.

Sam climbs back into the car and ignores Shaw, who has about a million questions for him, and closes his eyes.

* * *

The next time Sam runs into Andy, it's only a couple of months after the incident at the bar. He's walking out of the station and sees her running on the sidewalk. She's wearing a dark grey

sports bra and red shorts and his eyebrows shoot to his hairline because **jesus**.

"Hey McNally," he calls and she stops her run in front of the station. He smiles, heading toward the sidewalk to meet her. She takes a step back and puts her arms over her head, stretching as her breath comes out in huffs.

"Officer Swarek out of uniform, I never thought I'd see the day," she says teasingly, giving him a once over with her eyes.

He laughs. "Yes, for once I'm not getting you out of trouble," he jokes and she just rolls her eyes, shrugging innocently.

"I didn't take you for a runner," Sam says, pointing a finger to her body, which is glistening (among other things). Her eyes went to his hand and her face breaks out into a pleading smile. He chuckles and hands her the water bottle that he is holding. He watches as she takes the cap off and takes a long drink from the water. She screws the lid back on and hands it back to him.

"Um, I've been running a lot lately. It was to get in shape for the academy, but I don't think I'm taking that route anymore," she says, and Sam raises an eyebrow in surprise.

"The academy, huh? You know, you'd have to stop with all the rebellious acts, right? Actually become a law abiding citizen," he says and she shoves him playfully, laughing loudly, and he finds that he loves the sound.

"Shut up," she says.

"What changed your mind?" he asks seriously.

She shakes her head, seeming uninterested in having this particular conversation, and he takes the hint.

"Sorry for interrupting your run," he says and she smiles.

"Like I'd ever pass on the opportunity to talk with my favorite officer of the law," she says, sarcasm in her voice, although a genuine smile is playing on her lips. He wants to catch her hand before she goes, find something to say to keep her in front of him. But instead he tips his head and watches as she runs off, and he finally turns away from watching her toned body retreat to get into his truck and head home.

* * *

McNally just _retired _yesterday, which is more like **was asked to step down. **Everyones taking it pretty hard but Shaw is having a lot of difficulty with it. Sam claps a hand on his friends shoulder, sliding into the stool next to him and they sit in a comfortable silence.

"He'll get it together," Sam finally says, smiling gratefully at the bartender who sets a beer in front of him. "Tommy McNally is a tough guy, ya know? He'll figure it out."

Shaw shakes his head. "Tommy is a tough guy, too tough to accept help," he says.

"He will," Sam says, and he's not really sure what he believes, but he knows he wants to be there for his friend, so he tries to keep the faith alive for him.

"I worry about Andy," Shaw says after a beat, and Sam raises an eyebrow.

Sam worries about her all the time, if he's being honest with himself, but he doesn't tell anyone that. Besides, he's sure that Shaw worries about her in a different way than he does.

"I've known her for like six years now. She was a pain the ass growing up, mostly cause no one paid attention to her. Tommy was doing the best he could but he worked more than anything, and her mom left them when she was kid, so... but she really got her shit together when she was like, eighteen, maybe nineteen? And after that bar incident, I just... I worry that this is affecting her more than she'll admit."

Sam frowns because Oliver is only confirming what he was worrying about.

"She's pretty tough, too," Sam says, trying to ignore the concern he feels in the pit of his stomach.

"Yeah, I guess she is," Shaw says and lets out a long sigh, signaling that he is done with this conversation. Sam smiles and challenges his friend to a game of darts, knowing that the spirit of competition is the one thing that will cheer his friend up.

* * *

Sam doesn't believe in fate. At all. Fate is for people that can't take responsibility for their actions. And he is not one of those people. There is no destiny, no predetermined future. He makes new choices everyday that change his life in different ways.

But when he's jogging through his favorite park one morning and sees Andy laying in the grass, he kind of wonders if the Gods are working in his favor. He slows down to a walk and watches her for a minute. She's sprawled out on her stomach, propped up by her elbows, reading a book. The sun is shining down on her and she has a small smile playing on her lips, and its just this picturesque scene. He slowly approaches her and crouches down in front of her, blocking her sun. She frowns and looks up, flinching when she sees him.

"You startled me," she says. "What are you, stalking me?"

"Yes," he deadpans and she rolls her eyes, rolling over onto her back and staring up at him, squinting her eyes and raising her arms to shield the sun from her face. He chuckles and sits down beside her. She turns her head to face him.

"What's up?" she drawls out slowly, and it reminds him of the attitude she had the first time she met him. She finally sits up, tired of being blinded by the sun, facing him and crossing her legs to sit pretzel style.

"I just saw you while I was running, thought I'd come say hi," he says easily, shrugging nonchalantly although he's more nervous than he'd ever admit. He watches as she pushes her brunette hair behind her ears and nods.

"Right. Because we're such good friends," she jokes and picks at the grass, pulling out random blades and twisting them in her fingers. He watches her do that for a minute before speaking again. He wants to be careful with what he says, doesn't want to scare her away and make her feel like he's being overbearing.

"We're not, but, if you insist on it, we can probably try to be," he says teasingly, causing her to look up from the grass. She cocks her head to the side and it causes Sam's stomach to tighten.

"Really? If _I _insist?" she questions, crossing her hands over her chest and seeming to really ponder this statement. "Okay. What do you have in mind?" she asks and Sam is a little floored at how well she responds to him.

"Well, what do friends do?" he asks.

She shrugs. "Well my friends and I, we like to go to bars, go to dinner, watch netflix, ya know. The basics," she says, and Sam cannot believe how casual she's being about everything.

"Well, I do go the Penny most nights, and I'm sure you know where that is," he says.

She grins up at him, but quickly covers it up. She presses her lips together and puts a finger to her chin. "Hmmm," she lets out and he laughs lightly at this. "I guess if I happen to be free tonight, I might show up there and if you happen to be there, well, who would I be to keep you from buying me a drink," she says.

Sam smirks and he doesn't want to be too forward but he could swear that she is flirting with him. And he's not complaining. At all.

"Who said I'd buy you a drink. We're just friends, ya know," he says.

Andy chuckles. "Yeah, well, you seem like the type to buy drinks for your friends. A gentleman, or whatever."

He rubs the back of his neck and shrugs, because she's not wrong. Maybe she would make a good cop.

"Okay, well, if you happen to show up around nine, I'll probably have no choice but to buy a drink for my new friend," he says and she nods, a sparkle in her eye that does things to Sam that he can't even begin to explain. He stands up and waves at her before going back to his run, spirits high.

* * *

Its a quarter after nine and Sam decides to go ahead and assume that Andy was mocking him this morning, that she had no plans of coming to see him. He can try to pretend he's not disappointed but that would be a lie.

"What's wrong with Sammy?" Jerry asks, joining Sam at the table with Oliver and Noelle. Sam rolls his eyes because he hates how they are all pretending he's not there.

"Who knows, the guys been like this for like twenty minutes," Oliver says and Noelle chuckles lightly. "What?" Oliver asks her, raising a curious eyebrow at her.

"It's a girl," she says knowingly. "Sam Swarek is hung up on a girl that is not hung up on him," she says teasingly and Jerry claps his hands together.

"You're kidding! Who's the little minx that's got your heart all tangled, Sammy?" he asks and Sam just rolls his eyes. They all start teasing him and he just puts his head down on the table, trying his best to tune out his so called friends.

"What's McNally doing here?" Oliver says suddenly, standing up. Sam whips his head up and stares at Oliver, who is already halfway to Andy. He watches as he wraps Andy in a hug and she's smiling brightly. Her chin is resting on Oliver's shoulder and she meets Sam's eyes.

Noelle lets out a low laugh. "It's McNally's daughter, that's who's got you like this?" she says, obviously in shock.

Jerry claps a hand on his friends shoulder. "Good luck with that one. She's a firecracker," Jerry says on a laugh and the two of them try to regain composure as Oliver ushers Andy over to the table.

"McNally, hi, I'm Jerry-"

Andy slides into the seat that Oliver pulls over for her, right between Sam and Ollie. She laughs. "Jerry, I know who you are, we've met," she says, not unkindly.

Jerry grins. "I didn't know if you remembered," he says sheepishly. "Can I get you a drink?" he asks.

She nods and meets Sam's eyes for a moment, smiling like she's got a secret. "Sure, vodka cranberry, please," she says politely and Jerry nods, heading over to the bar.

Oliver starts talking her ear off and Sam can't get a word in edgewise so he just stares at his beer because he can feel Noelle's eyes on him.

Jerry comes back and sets the drink in front of Andy, who smiles graciously and takes a sip. "Thanks," she says easily.

"So, what brings you to the Penny?" Jerry asks knowingly and Sam raises an eyebrow, finally looking up from his beer.

He glances over at Andy, who just looks incredibly amused by this turn of events. "Some guy invited me, insisted on buying me a drink, I don't know," she shrugs and Noelle and Jerry both burst out laughing, while Oliver remains clueless and Sam glares at Andy, who sticks her tongue out and joins Jerry and Noelle in laughter.

"What the hell just happened?" Oliver asks and Andy just shakes her head.

"Don't worry about it Ollie," she says teasingly.

Noelle's laughter finally dies down and she lets out a breath. "I like this one, Sammy," she says and gets up from the table, motioning for Oliver and Jerry to come with her.

Oliver follows them, clearly confused, and Sam immediately looks at Andy, who is just beaming at him. "You're not very nice," he says matter-of-factly.

"What did I ever do to give you the impression that I'm nice?" she asks, her face the picture of innocence, and he shrugs.

"You make a good point," he says with an eyeroll.

"So," she says, holding up her now empty glass. "You gonna buy me that drink?"

He's taken aback by the smile on her face, her dancing eyes, just, her. He nods and goes to get her another drink, mind racing because what was he thinking? Proposing a friendship? There was no way he could just be friends with this girl.

When he turns to come back to the table, he finds that her eyes are on him from the table across the room and it kind of throws him for a second but he hopes he still looks confident. He slides into his seat.

"Ok, I got your drink, the rest are on you," he teases and she shrugs, taking a sip.

She glances around the room and her smile quickly fades. Sam watches as she ducks her head awkwardly, placing her hand on her forehead. He doesn't even have time to look to see who she is hiding from because a voice interrupts him.

"Hey Andy," says a voice that Sam immediately recognizes. He looks up to see Callaghan staring at Andy, and Sam swears he can see hearts in the guys eyes.

She looks up reluctantly. "Luke," she drawls out, her voice all of a sudden an octave higher than before. "Hey."

"You know Sam Swarek?" he asks, and he looks like he's fighting to keep his voice easy going.

Andy chuckles lightly, pushing her hair behind her ears. "Yeah, I mean, we go way back," she says and Sam has to bite his lip to hide his smile. Yeah. They go way back to her getting pulled over at age 17. Six years ago.

"Cool," he says, although his demeanor shows that he clearly doesn't think it's very cool.

Sam clears his throat awkwardly and takes a swig from his beer, enjoying the look a pure agony on Andy's face.

"Okay, well, I'll talk to you soon?" Luke finally says and Andy gives him a thumbs up, waving awkwardly as he walks away.

It's quiet for a minute, and Andy's trying to play it cool, but Sam isn't willing to let that go. "That was nice," he says.

She groans. "Oh my gosh, I went out to dinner with him like a month ago and he's been trying to get me on a second date since and oh my gosh," she rambles and he laughs.

"That bad?" he asks.

She lets out a long sigh and is quiet for a minute, her index finger running along the top of her glass. "It was fine. It was easy, he was a gentleman. He made me laugh and told me I was beautiful," she says and Sam's eyebrows pull together in confusion.

"Sounds terrible," he drawls out sarcastically, although he's a little annoyed at the subject matter.

"I'm bad at relationships," she confesses. "I'm a heartbreaker. I always end it because I get bored or scared," she says. "And I'm not looking for an easy guy that goes with the flow and tells me I'm beautiful. I mean, those aren't bad qualities but..." she trails off and shakes her head. "Ignore me, I'm rambling," she says and Sam immediately shakes his head, motioning for her to continue. "I want someone who challenges me, ya know?" she asks.

He nods and finally takes the hint to drop the subject, bringing up the book she was reading at the park.

* * *

Being with Andy is fun. It's exciting, she keeps him guessing, and she can see right through him when he's being an asshole. And it's amazing and it's terrifying and basically the last thing he would have ever expected.

"So I've decided something," Sam says as they stand in line at the coffee shop they like to hang out in occasionally. "I'm going to help you out."

"Finally, this friendship benefits me," she says teasingly and he nods, choosing to ignore that statement.

"I know you really do want to be a cop," he says and before she can object he barrels through the next part of his statement. "And it just so happens that I'm a cop so I think I could help you out when you're going through the academy."

She stares at him but reaches the front of the line before she can say anything. She quickly orders for Sam and herself, and yes, it's stupid, but it sort of touches him that she knows his regular order; that she pays attention to him. Once they pay and sit down at their usual table by the huge glass window, she frowns at him.

"I appreciate the thought, Swarek, but I'm okay."

"So, you're just going to continue to go to work, your job-as a receptionist, even though you have a sociology degree under your belt with the natural ability to be a great cop?" he asks, and he feels like he's probably being too harsh but he can see how unhappy she is.

She shrugs. "Maybe."

"Andy-" he says, and it throws her off. She flinches, looking up at him. He assumes it's because he usually only refers to her by her last name. "Look, you're so smart, and I think you're selling yourself short," he says.

"And I think you're not my dad," she retorts before taking a sip of her coffee.

"You said you were considering the academy... what changed?"

"My father," she says, and although she's trying to sound casual, her voice wavers a little. "Look, okay. I didn't ever think I'd want to be a cop. Even growing up with my dad, I thought I'd do something else. Nursing, maybe? But I kind of turned into an asshole at age sixteen. I wanted attention so I did stupid things. And one day, I was caught spray painting, well, inappropriate things on a building and a cop closed his eyes and let me run away," she looks up at him from her coffee and he tries to keep his expression neutral, afraid to scare her back into her shell. She breaks eye contact but continues. "He kind of gave me some perspective, I guess. I started to straighten up my act. Cut my dad some slack. Even applied to the community college. And when I was in school, it took me forever to declare a major, but that cop was always in the back of my mind. Eventually, it wasn't even a question anymore, I knew I wanted to be a cop. So I graduated and the day I started to fill out my application for the academy was the first day that Boyko called me to let me know my dad was, um, acting inappropriately at work... and after that, it was just a vicious cycle. I was so busy taking care of him I stopped taking care of myself."

She gets quiet for a minute and Sam watches as she takes the lid off of her hot coffee, trying to force it to cool down a little.

"I don't want to be a cop. To see the things he saw. To follow in his footsteps. I mean, the McNally name is already tarnished, so..."

She clears her throat to indicate she's done and he hesitantly puts a hand over her balled fist that is resting on the table.

"McNally," he says and pauses, trying to figure out the correct way to approach this. "You're curious, and good-hearted, and stubborn," he lists and she finally meets his eyes. "You're a natural, and I don't think you should let anything deter you from what you really want. And I mean that, even if being a cop isn't truly what you want. But I'm pretty sure it is," he says.

Sam can hardly believe he is capable of being so serious right now when she basically just told him he inspired her to turn her life around and become a cop.

"Just think about it," he encourages and she nods and its awkward for a minute but eventually they fall back into regular conversation.

* * *

Some soft girly music was coming through Andy's speakers and it was kind of soothing, not that Sam would ever admit that to her.

"Since when do you cook?" he asks from the family room. He's sprawled out on her couch, fiddling with the picture frame that had been sitting on Andy's coffee table. Framed was a photo of her and her father. He was in uniform and she looked about fourteen, smiling brightly at the camera.

"I don't," she says, walking into the family room with two beers in her hands and a bag of chips tucked under her arm. She hands him a beer and throws the bag of chips at him when the doorbell rings. She grins happily and heads to the door, reaching into her back pocket for some money. She has a polite exchange with the pizza guy and then comes in with a box of pizza.

"Ahh, so this is what you meant by delicious meal," he teases, watching as she places the pizza on the table in front of the couch. She sends him a glare and opens up the box.

"Do you want dinner or not?" she asks and he shoots her an apologetic grin. She rolls her eyes. "So," she says and settles down on the floor, crossing her legs, her back leaning against the couch. She leaned back so that the back of her head was resting against Sam's legs. "There is a reason I invited you over for dinner," she says. He just stares at her. "Well, are you going to eat?" she asks. He rolls his eyes and gets off of the couch, joining her on the floor. He leans forward and takes a piece of pizza. She grins.

"So. The reason for the impromptu dinner?" he asks after taking a bite of the pizza.

She takes a deep breath and reaches behind her, grabs a bright blue folder, and opens it. Inside is an application for the police academy. He grins widely at her and she shoots him a look that tells him to calm down. He quickly recomposes his face and she sighs. "Want to help me fill this thing out?"

He nods as calmly as he can, beyond proud of the girl.

* * *

Sam just finished pulling his grey shirt over his head when his phone starts ringing. He answers it on the last ring. "Yeah," he grunts.

"That's really how you answer my calls? _Yeah?_" Andy's voice comes in through the phone and he feels his pulse race. He laughs loudly.

"What do ya want, McNally?" he asks easily, pulling his bag out of his locker and shutting it gently. He nods a goodbye to Shaw, who is sitting on the bench tying his shoe.

"Are you off work?" she asks.

"About to leave the building now," he says. "Why?" he asks curiously, hoping that she wants to get breakfast or something. He wonders why she's up this early. He got stuck working a night shift which meant he was getting off work at 6. It was almost seven at this point, as he and Shaw stayed a little while longer to help a couple of rookies.

"Want to get some breakfast?" she asks and he grins. She read his mind.

She does that a lot-reads his mind. It's funny how easily she seems to read him. It's more difficult for him to read her feelings. He figures it's because she has so many of them. She feels everything, and she feels it deeply. It's incredible to him, although he usually makes fun of her and calls her dramatic.

"Good, I could go for some pancakes," he says. He passes Noelle, who's on duty and looks exhausted. She gives him a look, a look that says _I know you're talking to Andy, I can see it in your eyes_. He winks at Noelle, who shakes her head and mutters something under her breath. "Want me to pick you up on my way to Mitchell's?" he asks, knowing she's going to want to go to their favorite diner.

He pushes open the doors to the parking lot and approaches his car, only to be incredibly surprised to see Andy leaning against the back of his truck. She grins and shoves her phone into her back pocket.

"What are you doing here, McNally?" he asks, pulling his keys out of his pocket. He unlocks his truck and she's beaming. He reaches her door, because it's cold and he wants to get in the vehicle, but she stands in front of the door before he can open it for her. "McNally," he says, and finally notices their close proximity. She doesn't seem bothered by it though.

She reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a piece of folded up paper. She unfolds it and clears her throat dramatically. "Dear Andrea McNally," she starts. "Congratulations! It is with great pleasure-"

Sam cuts her off, wrapping his arms around her. She laughs, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. He nearly lifts her off the ground. He pulls away from her to see she looks even more excited now than she did before. "Congratulations," he says, finally pulling the door open for her. "Did you ever doubt you could do it."

She sighs. "Yes. But then I'd just talk to you and my doubts went away," she says matter-of-factly and it catches him off guard, how open she is. She leans forward and places a kiss on his cheek before getting into his truck. He lets out a shaky breath and shuts her door, wondering what the hell he did to get lucky enough to know this girl.

* * *

Sam begins to think his relationship with Andy is kind of weird. He knows he has feelings for her, and he thinks it's possible that she has feelings for him, and they're together so much it's like they're actually _together_. But they're not. They're just friends.

And he'd rather be friends than nothing, but sometimes he wonders if she thinks about it, too.

Once she's at the academy, she's a little more busy. She's still working her receptionist job, and she makes some friends at the academy that she goes out with every so often. But she still makes time for him, calls him when they both have free time. He helps her with things she struggles with at the academy, and he's so impressed by her. She's so smart. Everything comes so naturally to her. He knows without a doubt that she'll make a great copper.

When her training is finally over, they decide to meet at the Penny for celebratory drinks. He's sitting at a table, quietly nursing his beer as he waits patiently for Andy to arrive. As soon as she enters the bar, Sam knows. Like he can sense her presence. He looks up at the door to see an elated Andy grinning ear to ear. She waves at him and he raises his beer in greeting. As she makes her way to him, she's stopped by a group of people at a table. She stops and talks with them for a minute. Sam watches affectionately as she does a couple of shots with the group. She gives them all hugs and then makes her way to Sam.

"Fellow rookies?" he asks knowingly and she nods, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. He grins, a little surprised by the gesture.

She sits down across from him and grins easily, holding up the beer that he had waiting for her. "Thanks."

He nods. "How ya feeling McNally?" he asks.

She looks up, looks over at the other rookies, and shakes her head. "Nervous. Relieved. Ecstatic. Terrified… take your pick."

Sam chuckles, nodding as he takes a sip of his beer. "I figured. That's normal, but you'll be fine, you'll see." She clasps her hands together on the table and looks nervous. "What?" he finally asks.

"I've been recommended to work at 15," she says in a rush, like she's afraid of how he'll react. "I know I said I applied at 27, but my instructor, Frank Best, he told me he was suggesting my name to Boyko at 15 so I said okay because I felt honored, I guess."

"Andy, that's amazing! I mean, I'm not surprised but you definitely should feel honored. Fifteen is where the best go."

"But…" she trails off and sighs. "Are you sure you want to work with me? Isn't that weird? A conflict of interest or something? I mean… you're a training officer, so…"

He shakes his head immediately.

"You're sure?" she asks, wincing.

He rolls his eyes. "Stop being so dramatic, McNally."

She clears her throat and nods. "Okay, fine then," she says teasingly and spits her tongue out at Sam, the tension from before fading away.

* * *

It isn't until the following Monday when Andy's words from that Friday night start running circles in his brain. Why was she nervous? Why did she think he'd be mad?

He smiles when he sees Andy sitting in parade beside her friend Traci. The two girls were whispering, Andy giggling lightly. She turns around when she notices a movement out of the corner of her eyes and grins easily at Sam, nodding her head in greeting. His heart rate doubles in speed and he nods back nonchalantly.

Boyko sternly begins parade, and Sam thanks the gods when he is paired with Andy for the day. She turns around as soon as parade is over, a mischievous smile on her face. Sam chuckles as she meets him at the back of the room. "Look at this, first day and we're paired together. Dream team, am I right or am I right?" she asked enthusiastically.

He rolls his eyes and leads her to his squad car, running through his usual speech without any of the rude comments he usually includes.

As they sit in the car, Andy chats his ear off about her morning and the other rookies. He can't help but notice that all her previous apprehension about working with him had disappeared.

"Hey, McNally," he says when he can finally get in a word. She grins at him, motioning for him to continue. "What did you mean last night, when you asked me about conflicting interests? Why were you so nervous?"

Her face pales slightly and he knew, in that moment, that she was still nervous and was working extra hard to cover it up. She let her fingers find her seat belt, fiddling with it distractedly.

"I… nothing… I was just being myself, you know, overthinking everything and whatnot… my specialty."

He glances over at her from his side of the car and shakes his head. "I'm not buying it. You're clearly the world's worst liar but even if you were better at this, I know you better."

She let out a sigh and Sam watches as her eyes bounce from her feet to the radio to the window, never landing anywhere for too long. He looks over his shoulder before pulling over to the side of the street in front of a coffee shop.

"McNally," he urges.

His mind is running a mile a minute and he can feel his whole body begin to tense in anticipation of whatever was going to leave her mouth.

"Maybe… I was thinking that it's against the rules for a rookie and a training officer to date…" she finally says quietly, staring down at her hands that were clasped together in her lap.

Sam's eyes go wide immediately. "We're not dating," he says dumbly because he can't think of anything better to say.

"No… we're not," she responds.

"But… you want to?" he asks.

She shakes her head, sighing as she finally gathers the courage to look up at him. "I… you don't want to," she says.

"You're not answering my question… and how could you know that?" he asks. He remains silent, watching Andy carefully as she closes her eyes, gathering all of her jumbled thoughts.

"I… I asked if me working at fifteen would be a conflict of interest. You said no… so…" she sputters anxiously.

Everything began falling into place, and Sam let himself relax for a minute, a tiny smile playing on his lips. "McNally. You're telling me you expected me to tell you to go to twenty-seven, a lesser division, because I have feelings for you? I would never hold you back like that."

She meets his eyes reluctantly, and Sam's surprised to find her's were glassy. He reaches across and places a hand over her tiny hands. She smiles at the contact. "I just thought you'd mention something about the rule, or, I don't know…"

He laughs and they both sit there in silence for a long moment before Andy finally speaks again. "So… you do want to date me?"

He smirks, his eyes cutting to hers. "I feel like I've made that pretty clear."

"Says who?" she asks on a laugh, sending him a playful glare.

"Me. I do," he jabbed his free hand into his chest dramatically to make a point. "But I'm not going to ask you to transfer because of those feelings, and I'll be pissed if you do it anyway."

She giggles, shaking her head. "Wow, so glad we talked this out. Everything is much clearer now," she mutters bitterly.

He leans forward slightly, his face inches from hers, and exhales lightly. "I can wait for you… it'll only be, what? Six months?"

"Assuming I make it that far," she cut in.

He ignores her. "We can stay platonic until then. We've made it this far." She nods, not looking particularly thrilled by the plan. He grins. "Or," he says loudly and her eyes brighten at this. He leans forward a little more, catching her lips in his for a gentle kiss, everything inside of him suddenly on fire in the best way possible. Her lips are soft when she responds to him, moving with his softly. He pulls away and grins at her mischievously. "Or… you can get in touch with your roots and breaks some rules with me."

She laughs easily at this, beaming at Sam. She leans forward and presses her lips to his sweetly. "I've been itching for some rebellion in my life, now that you mention it."

He chuckles, feeling every good feeling in the world in his stomach as she rests her forehead against his.

"As long as no handcuffs are involved, I think it's a great plan," she says.

"_No _handcuffs?" he questions, raising an eyebrow at her.

She smirks. "We'll see."


End file.
